MaidRPG - Because you didn't hate Japan enough.

This little gem's been going around the anime section of the internet (you know, the bit with the funny smelling staring guys, and the occasional cat ears popping up from behind the shelves.) It's sort of a combination of My Life With Master and Panty Explosion, and is actually translated from Japanese. The campaigns are very one-shot orientated, and characters are random generated, with lots and lots of tables with stuff like Sexy and Crimnal Tendencies as attributes. The campaigns are weird adventures in the mansion, like a washing machine possessed by demons and similar stuff.

So yeah, it's a downloadable PDF for $8 dollars off the website, or for free on less scrupulous sites.

Speaking as a person who has lived in Japan before and currently during the whole "maid" phenomenon, I can say it's not as big here as people might think. It gets lots of press due to it being an oddity - and oddities in Japan are rarely hidden. More often you point a big neon sign at it and say "hey! Weird people HERE!"

It doesn't help that most foreigners immediately come here and head for Akihabara, one of the few places in Tokyo these creepy cafes are to be found - and immediately assume this is what Japan's all about.

On a positive note, the one thing that can be said about the creepy maid cafes is they are all ... well, clean. Compared to slimy hostess bars and strip clubs, they are clean places where Japanese geeks can get the feeling that girls would actually talk to them, and call them master. Ok, so it is frickin' weird.

I honestly didn't think Akihabara was all that special, myself. I had a lot more fun wandering around the various temples and gardens. If you want to see people dressed up in strange costumes, I'd recommend skipping Akihabara altogether and hitting Harajuku on a weekend. It's much less porn-oriented (though you'll find several people offering free hugs). Just don't do what I did and forget your camera.